Nail Shaper

ABSTRACT

A nail clipping device is disclosed which is designed to increase ease of use for users with diminished capacity, improve uniformity, and increase efficiency of a manicure. The device includes a lever and base each associated with a blade; the blades are biased apart and the device includes at least one stand-off to magnify pressure applied to the lever. The base may be designed to rest on a work surface eliminating the need for a user to squeeze the blades together. A cutting end of each blade comprises a shape; in one embodiment the cutting ends are detachable allowing interchangeability for different shapes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/993,404 filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office onMay 15, 2014, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated byreference

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to manicuring tools and, morespecifically to a device for shaping a fingernail or toenail.

BACKGROUND

For many years, people have been manicuring or having manicured toenailsand/or fingernails. The process almost always includes a plurality ofsteps and iterations comprising, generally, the steps of cutting,shaping and smoothing the nail's edges.

A nail—toe or finger—comprises a nail plate. The nail plate is attachedto the body by the nail matrix located under the cuticle and from whichthe nail grows and by the nail bed which is located between the finger(or toe) and the nail. The portion of the nail plate near the cuticle isthe lunula; the opposite end of the nail plate is called the distaledge. There are two opposing sides of the nail plate running between thelunula and the distal edge. It is the distal edge that is typically cutand shaped during a manicure; the top surface of the nail may be buffedsmooth to and thereafter polished.

In general, the manicure includes several pre-treatment steps to preparethe nail for filing and shaping. Once prepared, the nail is first cutinto the rough semblance of the desired finished shape, leaving extralength for filing and shaping. This first cut is a gross cut addressingthe distal edge of the nail plate and the two opposing sides. It istypically meant to shorten and give a general shape to the end of thedistal edge of the nail. The gross cut advisedly leaves the nail a bitlonger than is desired for the finished nail. This extra length allowsfor shaping via filing through which some length will be lost. The grosscut maybe accomplished using straight scissor-type blades or slightlycurved clipper-type blades. When a clipper is used to cut the distaledge it typically leaves relatively abrupt corners on the nail;thereafter, a smaller set of scissors or the clippers may again be usedto address the abrupt corners by cutting to blunt the corners and tostill further shape the nails. Thereafter, a file is used to create thefinal desired shape, and to smooth the corners as desired. It requiressome skill and experience to obtain a set of 10 highly similarly shapednails. In addition to the gross cut, and blunting the corners, the nailedges are filed as a finer means to attain the desired length and shape.Often adjustments need to be made in the process in order to achievegeneral uniformity in nail tip shape, and it is not unusual to lose naillength in doing so. More importantly, as one nail is shaped, the oneshaped just prior may need to be adjusted a bit; these adjustments go onas each of the additional nails are filed and shaped which can be quitetime consuming. Buffing the nail may follow to smooth the nail's surfaceand add smoothness to the edge prior to adding nail polish.

Even those who do not go to the trouble of manicuring or havingmanicured their nails per se may still regularly trim their nails. Foreither task, the elderly or any with tendonitis, arthritis, carpaltunnel syndrome or other ailments that affect the strength orcoordination of the hands struggle with the devices currently availablefor trimming or cutting fingernails and toe nails. The struggle iscompounded by the need to use the currently available devices severaltimes for each nail in order to accomplish the uniformity that mostdesire.

What was needed was a way to accurately shape and cut the nail by usinga simple, one step cut. What was also needed was a means to reduce oreliminate filing for the purpose of shaping and thereby save time andincrease ease of achieving uniformity of nail shape and length.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a tool for significantly reducing thetime and effort needed to shorten and shape the nail whether for adecorative manicure or for a routine trim. The present invention avoidsthe problems of prior art methods of manicuring.

Previously known methods and associated equipment employ a slightlycurved or straight set of blades and require several different cuts ofthe same nail in an effort to provide only a semblance of the desiredfinal shape. This general shape is then painstakingly perfected throughfiling and readjustment of the shape and length. This routine isreiterated for each of the ten digits during which the length and shapeof some of the ten nails may be adjusted several times until the set often appears uniform in shape and desired length.

The present invention provides a method to obtain the desired shape,uniformly for each nail, with a single cut for each nail. It alsoprovides a device which is designed to facilitate ease of cutting thenail; the assembly is especially designed for use by those with reducedstrength or coordination.

The present invention employs at least one pre-shaped set of blades 20,said blades set in a clipping device 10 having a first lever 30, a base40, and a biasing member 50. The device 10 may be used by placing thebase 40 on a surface and then positioning the distal edge 102 of a nail100 between the preshaped blades 20 a and 20 b. Thereafter, the firstlever 30 is pressured resulting in pressing together the blades 20 a and20 b to cut the distal edge 102 of the nail 100 in precisely the desiredshape which reflects the shape 25 of the preshaped blades 20 a and 20 b.The opposing sides 104, 106 of the nail 100 may be smoothed of any edgesthereafter if desired, but shaping the nail 100 is no longer necessary.In one clip, the present invention 10 cuts and shapes the nail 100thereby avoiding the multiple cuts, and the extensive filing that mayotherwise be necessary to result in nails of uniform shape and length.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a finger and fingernail;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the details of lever 30 and base40;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the base 40

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the blades 20 a and 20 b;

FIG. 6 is a close-up view showing the arrangement of blades 20 a and 20b and biasing element 50;

FIG. 7 is another view of the blades 20 a and 20 b;

FIG. 8 is a side view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a device 10 to shape a nail 100 and amethod of using the device 10 to achieve a uniform manicure in less timethan prior manicuring methods. In one embodiment, the device 10 includesa pair of blades 20 a and 20 b, a first lever 30 and a base 40 which areseparated by a biasing element 50 biasing a first end 32 of the firstlever 30 and a first end 42 of the base 40 apart. The biasing element 50may comprise a metal or plastic spring or springs, a tab or strut-likeelement made of resilient and compressible material, a resilient biasingmember. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand there are manyways to provide resilient bias between two elements which are associatedat one end in a spaced apart manner. The blades 20 a and 20 b eachcomprise a cutting end, 34 and 44. The cutting ends further comprise ashape 25. The device 10 may comprise integration of a second end 36 ofthe first lever 30 which may be associated with the blade 20 a near itscutting end 34 for example, at 70. The second end 46 of the base 40 maybe associated with the lower blade 20 b near its cutting end 44. Inanother embodiment, the lower blade 20 b may be an integrally formedpart of the base 40 or the lower blade 20 b may be formed to also serveas the base 40.

One embodiment of the device 10 comprises engagement 60 of a non-cuttingend 20 c and 20 d of each of the blades 20 a and 20 b to each other,with the biasing element 50 positioned oppositely near the cutting ends34 and 44. The first lever 30 is associated with blade 20 a near thecutting end 34; the base 40 is associated with blade 20 b near itscutting end 44. Alternatively, the device 10 may comprise means todetachably associate 80 the cutting ends 34 and 44 and the blades 20 aand 20 b. This detachable association 80 may comprise a snap-lock,biasing device, pin, friction fit, or the like. This embodiment wouldallow the device to employ interchangeable cutting end pairs, havingdifferent shapes for cutting the nails.

In one embodiment the first lever 30 comprises a depression or stand-off90 which extends toward the blade 20 a; when pressure is applied to thefirst lever 30 the stand-off leverages that pressure to the blade 20 ato close its cutting end 34 against cutting end 44. In some embodimentsthe base 40 may include a similar stand-off 90 on the base 40 for betterpositioning of the blade 20 b and cutting end 44 relative to blade 20 a.The embodiments comprising blade 20 b integrated with base 40 or servingas base 40 may provide means for operation that does not require theuser to squeeze the first lever 30 and the base 40 together whileholding the device but, instead, allows for operation by placing thebase 40 on a surface and pressuring the first lever 30 toward the baseto cut the nail 100.

In some embodiments the base 40 may be formed substantially the same asthe first lever 30 and may or may not include a stand off. Thisembodiment would be more amenable to the user holding the assembly 10 inone hand between fingers and thumb and squeezing the lever 30 and thebase 40 together to cut the nail 100. However, an appropriately shapedbase 40 could allow operation either by squeezing lever 30 and base 40together, or by pressuring the lever 30 while base 40 rests against awork surface 110.

The method of using the device requires selecting a pair of generallyidentically shaped cutting ends 34, 44 of the appropriate and desiredshape 25 and attaching them to blades 20 a and 20 b; alternatively, onemay select a device 10 that includes cutting ends 34, 44 permanentlyaffixed to blades 20 a and 20 b. The upper cutting end 34 associatedwith lever 30 is then positioned above the first finger's nail's distaledge 102, the lower cutting end 44 below, with the center of the blades'shape generally over the center of the nail's distal edge; the base 40and the lower cutting end 44 may be generally horizontally alignedalthough such alignment is not required. In one embodiment, ahorizontally parallel alignment is achieved by using a base 40 shaped toprovide a spaced apart relationship between the lower cutting end 44 anda work surface 110 on which the base 40 rests, thereby allowing thefinger to rest on the work plane 110 and the nail's distal edge 102 toeasily slide between the cutting ends 34 and 44. Other arrangements maybe employed to allow the finger to rest appropriately below the lowercutting end, including providing a finger rest associated with thedevice, or a slightly raised platform 40 a upon which the cutting endsand blades are mounted. Once positioned, the base 40 of the device 10rests on work surface 110. The first lever 30 is depressed and thecutting ends 34 and 44 cut the nail in the shape 25 of the cutting ends34 and 44. The shape 25 may be oval, square, round, oblong, etc. Eachcut is substantially identical in shape and clean. Minimal smoothing ofthe cut edge is all that is required. Each nail can, in its turn, beinserted between the cutting ends and using the free hand or other meansof applying pressure, the first lever 30 is easily pressed downward(more particularly minimized in embodiments comprising the stand-off)toward the work surface 110 and the base 40 to simply effect the nail'scut without two-handed operation, and with minimal pressure.

One advantage of the present invention is to facilitate minimal cutstrokes to assist those with arthritis or other painful maladies of thejoints or wrist that may be bothered by squeezing.

A second advantage of the present invention is to provide a simplermethod to achieve a good manicure without the assistance of anotherperson.

A third advantage is to avoid multiple cuts and to minimize or eliminatethe time consuming task of adjusting the shape of each of the nailsrelative to the others to achieve uniformity in shape and length.

The present invention has been described with particularity, however, itshould be understood that the shape of the blade pair may take on any ofmany. Further, while it is important that one blade be associated withthe lever, and another blade be associated with the base (or anotherelement highly similar to the lever) in order to provide the simplestuse, the exact means and arrangement of that association is notparticularly important so long as it addresses the need to provide meansto cut a fingernail that requires less hand strength or coordination.One embodiment describes one or two stand-offs or depressions positionedagainst either or both blades in a manner to create means for closingthe cutting blades using less movement of the lever, and/or lesspressure to do so. The simplicity of cutting a nail by simply pressingon the lever while the base is supported by a table or counter-top isinventive. Further, providing pre-shaped blade reduces the effortsrequired to obtain a uniform nail set. Detachable/replaceable bladesfurther extend the usefulness of the assembly by allowing its use toattain different nail shapes as desired. Other relationships that allowfor such ease of use are also contemplated by the invention.

What I claim is:
 1. A fingernail shaping device comprising a firstcutting end having a shape, said first cutting end in moving associationwith a lever and a second cutting end having said shape, said secondcutting end in moving association with a base, and a biasing member forbiasing the first and second cutting ends in an open position.
 2. Thefingernail shaping device of claim 1, further comprising an upper bladehaving a first end and a second end, said first end of the upper bladeassociated with the first cutting end, and a lower blade having a firstend and a second end, said first end of the lower blade associated withthe second cutting end.
 3. The device of claim 2, said second end of theupper blade and the second end of the lower blade associated together,said first end of the upper blade and said first end of the lower bladebiased apart by said biasing member.
 4. The fingernail shaping device ofclaim 1 wherein said shape comprises any one of a group consisting ofthree sides of a rectangle, a partial oval, a partial square, a partialcircle, a partial almond shape, and a partial triangle.
 5. Thefingernail shaping device of claim 2 further comprising a finger restfor positioning said nail relative to the first and second cutting endsin the open position.
 6. The fingernail shaping device of claim 1, saidbase comprising a height to provide space between a work surface and thesecond cutting end.
 7. A method of using the device of claim 1comprising placing the device with its base on a work surface, insertinga distal end of a fingernail between and centered horizontally relativeto the first and second cutting ends, and depressing the lever towardthe base to cut the nail in the shape of the first and second cuttingends.